Journal Article Review

Journal Article Review: “The Impacts of Luxury Fashion Brand’s Social Media Marketing and on Customer Relationship and Puchase Intention” (Kim, A and Ko, E. 2010. The Journal of Global Fashion Marketing. 1:3. P164-171) Word count: 969 words.

In the article, “Impacts of Luxury Fashion Brand’s Social Media Marketing on Customer Relationship and Purchase Intention”, authors Angella Jiyoung Kim & Eunju Ko (2010) discuss the experimentation process of researching the impact of Luxury Fashion Brand’s Social Media Marketing efforts (henceforth ‘SMM’) on customer relationship, specifically trust and intimacy, and purchase intention. With a structure comparable to a report rather than a traditional article, Kim and Ko complete an analysis of the relationships between the “five properties of social media: entertainment, customisation, interaction, word of mouth and trend” (Kim and Ko, 2010, p164) and intimacy, trust and purchase intention through experiments yielding statistical data, with the outcome supporting their hypothesis and compounding their fundamental argument. Through focusing the analysis on the “Fashion industry leaders” (Kim and Ko, 2010, p164) (luxury brands), the study’s applicability may expand across lower industry sectors and hence set marketing standards for brands of all levels competing in the fashion industry.

Published in The Journal of Global Fashion Marketing, the article discusses how the study “proves the effectiveness of luxury brands’ SMM” on improving customer relationship and purchase intention. The intangible service social media provides increases the luxury value of the brand to consumers, increasing trust in the short term and potentially leading to a sense of intimacy in the long term. Through facilitating the means potential customers may interact with the brand and other buyers, luxury brands augment their service level and heighten customers ‘trust’ in the label, hence allowing brands to anticipate greater purchase intention as a result of social media.

Alongside this, Kim and Ko argue the importance of innovative marketing communication to stay relevant in the increasingly competitive industry, particularly with the growing competition from “lower sectors” (Kim and Ko, 2010, p164), namely fast fashion labels. Though this article is written in 2010, arguably when social media was in its infancy, the standpoint remains relevant in today’s society, with “social media marketing channels already (reaching) over two thirds of all internet users” in 2015 (Godey et al, 2015, p1) and inferrably reaching an even greater audience in 2019.

In an article accounting Burberry’s use of social media, it is noted that Burberry “wholeheartedly invested in social media” to “successfully regenerate their brand”, with the marketing repositioning helping to attract younger customers to the brand (Michel Phan et al, 2012, p213). However, despite the effectiveness of social media marketing at drawing in consumers, increasing purchase intention and customer relationship, traditional marketing activities still remain relevant, and social media should be used as an additional marketing channel rather than a sole path. Phan appears to support this belief, stating that Burberry ‘continues to invest in mainstream marketing activities to preserve its core customer base’. The key point to take away from the article is the potential positive effects that social media marketing efforts have on customer relationship and purchase intention. Despite not considered in the article, social media marketing has the potential to increase the customer base for brands, particularly from young adults where smartphone and social media usage is ever increasing. This may in turn benefit the brands in the long-run due to the phenomenon of brand loyalty that emerges from intimacy, as discussed by Chaudhuri and Holbrook in “The chain of effects from brand trust and brand affects to brand loyalty: The role of brand loyalty” (Chaudhuri, A. And Holbrook, B. 2001. Journal of Marketing. P81-93).

In spite of the results showing a confirmation of the hypotheses, it is necessary for one to consider the limitations of the argument proposed in the article, due to the date of publication, the methodology and the inherent generalisation of the effectiveness of social media marketing for the

entirety of the luxury sector. As discussed previously, despite the fact that the article is dated nine years ago, the core findings remain relevant, perhaps even more so as new social media channels have been established since publication.

The second critique for this article concerns the lack of diversity in the methodology. Kim and Ko describe how the results were drawn from the experiment where only 133 participants from a single specified area (Seoul), considered one luxury brand (Louis Vuitton). This lack of variety may have negative implications on the reliability of the results and their applicability to luxury brands marketing in markets outside South Korea. Furthermore, the questionnaire was only disseminated to customers who had purchased from luxury brands within the two years prior, and hence does not consider the potential of social media marketing to drawing new customers to the labels. To increase the reliability and applicability of the results to other brands within the luxury industry, the study should consider other socio-economic variables, such as age or income, as these may have a significant influence on customer relationship and purchase intention.

In conclusion, despite the unconventional structure of the journal, being more reminiscent of a report than a traditional article, the Kim and Ko discuss the experiment that they undertook to find their knowledge and support their fundamental argument. Despite potential flaws or limitations of this article, further research into the potential positive effects of social media on luxury brands supports Kim and Ko’s conclusion, with Godey et al (2015) finding social media marketing efforts have “a significant positive effect on brand equity and on brand awareness and brand image”, and hence concur that social media marketing is becoming “increasingly important and serious brand image building tool” (p7). The existence of reports of similar studies carried out across different customer bases and for alternative luxury fashion brands that produced similar results strengthen the perceived reliability of Kim and Ko’s argument, however, the fast developing nature of the technology industry suggests that the potential of social media marketing is constantly developing and influencing consumer behaviour in means that are not considered in this article.

Reference List: • Kim, A J and Ko, E. 2010. Impacts of Luxury Fashion Brand’s Social Media Marketing on Customer Relationship and Purchase Intention. The Journal of Global Fashion Marketing.

1:3, p164-171.